Cecil Tolley, 75, a life-long resident of the Fairview Community in Hampton, entered into eternal rest with our Lord on Tuesday, July 26, 2016, at Sycamore Shoals Hospital following a brief illness and complications from a massive heart attack.
Cecil, who was of the Freewill Baptist Faith, attended Fairview Freewill Baptist Church as a child. He was the last surviving son of 13 children of the late Jim and Posie Whitehead Tolley. A student at Fairview School and a Hampton Bulldog, Cecil left school in his teenage years to care for his ailing mother.
A life-long farmer, Cecil served many years at Johnson City’s Magnavox Plant and retired due to visual disability from the Unicoi County Gas Utility District. He cherished listening to the county police scanner, telling jokes, spending time with his family while eating Long John Silver’s fish or Kentucky Fried Chicken and loving his wife of 54 years, Georgia Blevins Tolley.
Cecil, affectionately known as “Pops,” “Papaw,” Pap,” and “Old Man,” was preceded in death by a granddaughter, Victoria Faith McQueen; his brothers, infant Lonnie, Ronnie, Carl, Mack, Ken, Dillard and Earl Tolley; and his sisters, infants Catherine and Christine Tolley, Faye (Bill) O’Shaughnessy, Ethel (Oscar) Coffey and Irene (Lloyd) Davis.
In addition to his wife, Cecil is survived by their children, Betty and Jobe Tolley, Hampton, Kitty Tolley, Hampton, Cecil Wayne Tolley, Hampton, Shelby and David McQueen and Annie and Danny McQueen. Others include his grandchildren, Danielle and Abigail Bates, Jobe Tolley, Courtney Tolley, Alexandria, Katarina and Izabella McQueen, as well as his great-grandchildren, Lucas Bates, Nathan Peters, Elana and Joshua Furches; a special cousin, Mabel Tolley; a special nephew, Norman Coffey; and many other nieces, nephews and extended family.
A graveside service will take place on Saturday, July 30, at 12 noon at the Tolley-Cornett Cemetery in the Fairview Community with Rev. Shane Whittemore and Rev. Henry Berry officiating with Cecil’s favorite songs of “Great Speckled Bird,” “Me and God” and “I’ll Fly Away” being played. Active pallbearers will be Billy Brown, Junior Blevins, Bobby Furches, Nathan Peters and his sons-in-law, Jobe Tolley, Danny and David McQueen. Honorary pallbearers will be Mabel Tolley, Norman Coffey, Landon Lingerfelt, Robert “Bob” Potter and the current and previous staff of the Unicoi County Gas Utility District. Those wishing to attend are asked to meet the family at the Tolley-Cornett Cemetery off Whittemore Road at 11:50 a.m. Saturday. It was Cecil’s wish to arrive at the cemetery via horse and wagon from the Fairview FWB Church, courtesy of Les Roberson and Landon Lingerfelt, on Saturday. The Tolleys wish to extend a heartfelt “Thank You” to Dr. Smith, Dr. Diaz and Dr. Starr and the amazing nurses and staff in the ER/ICU of Sycamore Shoals for their compassion, mercy and prayers in the family’s time of need. Also appreciation to Bobby McClain, Mr. Eddy Craft, Pastor Ken Bewley, Rev. Shane Whittemore, Rev. Randy English, Rev. Terry Richardson, Rev. Gary Whitehead, Rev. Henry Berry and Larry Tolley and members of the Fairview FWB Church, Hermitage Health Care and many others in their time of need. Condolences may be sent to our website at www.memorialfcelizabethton.com.
Memorial Funeral Chapel is serving the Tolley family.